Strategy Perspective Blog Posts: 2014

Power of Trustworthiness

Oct 1st 2014

Overexposure to initiatives that were not fully implemented, despite their potential, is a bridge to cynicism. Employees who have lived through over-hyped
changes in the past, naturally begin to associate changes with meaningless hype, regardless of how important or how needed the next change initiative may be.
Even worse, changes are sometimes misrepresented, such as claiming benefits for employees that in fact are nonexistent. Hype and misrepresentation sow the seeds
of doubt and create an atmosphere of distrust about change. The potential to create cynicism and skepticism underscores the importance of only undertaking
organizational changes that are important, presenting them honestly and truthfully, and being prepared to fully sponsor them through to successful implementation.

Resistance Need NOT be Futile

July 19th 2014

Resistance that stems from employees uncovering a problem with the change initiative could be a source of information that can be used to improve the change or its implementation.
If acted upon, it has the potential to advance or enhance the initiative. On the other hand, if the message behind constructive resistance is ignored, it might indeed be futile to
attempt raising issues that could make the difference between an initiative succeeding or failing.

Getting the Balance

May 19th 2014

A clear view of the end-state helps people get onboard with a new idea — something well known in the consumer behavior and marketing arena.For example, a fitness chain or a
diet club boosts the interest of potential members by focusing on a vision of lifelong health or a fantastic body image rather than describing daily workouts or highly
structured food choices. This works for consumer marketing because after the customer is sold on the membership, it becomes his or her own responsibility to implement the
vision. Not so for an organizational change initiative.
Implementing a change initiative is much more of a balance — between leadership and followership. A compelling, long-term vision is a key part of leadership. It grounds
the meaning and effect of the initiative within the organization. It gives employees a good sense of what to expect when the initiative is implemented. It also helps
people understand how the change affects their work as well as their role in the organization. Vision is a necessary but not sufficient to get employees fully onboard as
effective followers....

Letting the Change Initiative Speak

March 24th 2014

We all know that change is inevitable. Whether it is parchment scrolls replacing clay tablets or tablet computers replacing desktops,
new technologies are certain to displace the old reliable favorites. Nonetheless, from our own experience—as well as from research—we know
that most change initiatives in companies fail. In an organization, it is almost certain that many
employees will ignore the latest initiative and some employees will even push back against it. After all, it is more likely than not for
the initiative to be gone before too long. This implies that many needed, technically appropriate change initiatives, which could strengthen
a company’s future, simply fall by the wayside..

A Positive Epidemic

January 28th 2014

Every organizational change initiative begins with an idea about improving how work gets done. It could be an idea about how to increase quality
or get product to market quicker or control costs. No matter how good or technically appropriate the idea, it must be taken on board by employees
for the idea to become a successful initiative. But, it is only when people understand the value of the idea behind the change do they accept it,
adopt its practices, and create the value that it promises.

An organizational idea, like any idea spreads when people advocate it. The best advocates are people with expertise in the area affected by the change who have experience with
the change and have “contagious” enthusiasm for it.